BURIED TREASURES: BE HERE NOW

There are some albums that you just inexplicably have a soft spot for. ‘Be Here Now‘ is one of mine. It’s certainly not Oasis‘s best album by a long shot, but I’ve spent the past week or so revisiting it, and it’s still fairly brilliant, not to mention underrated. Although I give them as hard a time as anyone these days, I’m not at all embarrassed to admit that Oasis were probably the first band that I really, really loved. Their first three – even four – albums were brilliant, and although this one heralded the beginning of their ‘coke’ phase (the silly cover art says it all), it had some of my favourite Oasis tunes on it. I even bloody love ‘All Around the World‘. I’m serious!

I think ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory’ was the first album I knew ALL the words to, and is still probably my favourite Oasis album. But as Sean pointed out, ‘Be Here Now’ was the first that I – and many of my generation – actively looked forward to being released. I still remember the video of ‘D’You Know What I Mean’ premiering on MTV, and there being queues on the day of release. It was an event. It makes me a bit sad that those days are gone.

I’d love to meet Noel Gallagher some day. He’s a great songwriter. There’s no room for sneering or snobbery in my record collection. Play this song – the best on the album – LOUD.

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5 responses to this post.

I lovelovelove “The Girl in the Dirty Shirt.” Shame they never really played it that often. The perils of writing about now ex-wives…

But we all know I’m an incurable Oasis apologist/evangelist ;)

Really I tell anyone who says they haven’t done anything good since 1996 that they just haven’t been paying attention. That’s not to expect everyone to find it all perfection, but I suppose I get annoyed by the laziness in saying, “Oh well *I* quit paying attention, so clearly it’s of no worth anymore, right?”

If I’m in a reminiscing mood I’ll always reach for Definitely Maybe, but this was definitely the “event” album. Whats the Story… sort of just appeared one week without much fanfare. Be Here Now’s release was on the 9 o’clock news. At the time, the album reminded me of an Eric Cartman line – “Is this cool? I can’t tell”